It's not just the airline industry that's ratcheting up fees as the economy grows more worrisome. Hotels are also following suit.

"Virtually every hotel on the planet now has rates that come with a cancellation fee," explains Joe Brancatelli, who publishes the business travel Web site JoeSentMe.com. "If you don't come, too bad for you. It's called yield management and it was created by the airlines. Why the hotels would do anything the airlines are doing is a good question, but it works."

Joe Sharkey, a business travel columnist for The New York Times, found that out first hand when he was dinged for $414.29 for two nights at the St. Regis Aspen he never enjoyed.

Sharkey made a reservation at the St. Regis for two nights in the first week of October to attend an aviation conference. He called up the day before his check-in date to cancel and was notified that he would have to pay $414.29 - the total cost of the two-night stay. While a two-night stay at the St. Regis usually costs much more, he had received a discounted conference rate.

"With more business trips likely to be canceled or modified at the last minute in the current uncertain economic climate, it is increasingly important to read the fine print. Had I known that the St. Regis in Aspen confiscated the full two-day rate, I would simply have made a reservation elsewhere," Sharkey wrote in The New York Times the following week.

Ben Mollere, director of sales and marketing for the St. Regis, was surprised Sharkey made such a big deal out of the charge.

"We're an outpost here in the high country and people make plans well in advance. If we're holding his reservation that means if someone else calls, that room won't be available and they'll be turned away," said Mollere. "(The hotel's cancellation policy) is fully disclosed at the time of the reservation. I was a little surprised he had crafted this article because he's traveled a fair amount, so I would think he'd have known this before."

He added: "We don't have a big drive market or feeder market that can fill a room like you might see in New York or L.A. It's much more limited. It takes a lot to get to Aspen."

In a survey of over a dozen hotels, big and small, in the Aspen area, Mountain Business Journal learned they all had a nonrefundable cancellation fee. Most hotels in this area require 30 days notification during the winter, and sometimes as many as 60 days over the holidays. Even then, lodges like the Tyrolean and Aspen Mountain Lodge still charge a $50 processing fee. Hotels and lodges in other destination resorts, such as Vail, have similar fees. During the off-season, many hotels reduce cancel notification deadlines to 14 days.

So what's new?

"Fees at resorts have been prevalent in ski areas and beach destinations for decades, but those have proliferated over the years," said Scott Booker, chief hotel expert at Hotels.com.

And now they're also showing up in the big cities, he said, where cancellation fees weren't as common thanks to more walk-in traffic.

Other types of charges to be wary of include fees for parking, Internet usage, work-out facilities, additional occupants and other formerly free services.

"Hotels are looking for other revenue channels to help increase their revenues and it doesn't always benefit the consumer," Booker said. "Airlines are getting called out on the carpet and now people are starting to notice this nickel and diming the hotels are doing. It will be interesting to see what happens and whether the hotels will begin to adopt a more consumer-friendly approach."

Travelers who may have to cancel their plans at the last minute may want to ask hotel reservationists if there is a higher rate that has more lenient, or non-existent, cancellation policy.

"There's a lot of reasons this (cancellation fees) goes on. It's not a flat-out rip-off," said Brancatelli. "It doesn't make customers happy. I don't like it when it happens to me but you have to understand (the hotels) are trying to run a business."

It's worth noting that most hotels will refund cancellation fees if they are able to resell the canceled room, but that typically only happens when the hotels sell out, local hotel general managers said.

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